Tonight, Not Again: Jason Mraz Live at the Eagles Ballroom

AMG Review of Tonight, Not Again: Jason Mraz Live at the Eagles Ballroom

Johnny Loftus
All Music Guide

Jason Mraz made quite an impression in 2003. With his lopsided eyes and irritatingly cockeyed cap, he was the anti-John Mayer even as he was his peer. For Mraz didn't so much wish to be the junior Dave Matthews as he did the non-threatening folk-pop jangle dealer -- a one-man O.A.R. for the spaghetti-strapped masses. And who needs bubblegum lips when you have the Matrix in your corner? Mraz built a nationwide coffeehouse on the strength of singles like "The Remedy (I Won't Worry)" and "You and I Both," and those tracks anchor this pleasant holdover live set. Tonight, Not Again finds Mraz to be an engaging performer, able to flutter his voice up and down through registers with incredible ease. He's performing music tailor-made for the Aware Records crowd -- Midwestern college students, open-mike hosts, and guys with beards. His backing band is quite capable, if a little too clean -- it's the same quibble that dogged Waiting for My Rocket to Come, but it still holds true. Can't someone buy these dudes a distortion pedal? Well, no need. Like Mayer's own live placeholder Any Given Thursday, every second of Mraz's Tonight, Not Again is populated by smitten screaming. That cockeyed cap! Those lustrous high notes! On October 28, 2003, Milwaukee's Eagles Ballroom was certainly catching the Jason Mraz vapors. The kid's twittering following eats up every morsel of Tonight, from the soft tones of the title track opener through the drifting "Sleeping to Dream" (his own "Wonderland"?) and the rousing, smartly lyrical "Too Much Food." Mraz is also shown to have a classic ock flair in his songwriting. "Absolutely Zero" references Pink Floyd's "Us and Them," "Common Pleasure" and "Curbside Prophet" stretch into scat and percussion-filled jams, and he does a nice cover of Elton John's "Rocket Man." John Popper guests, the horn section is a nice -- if a bit too grandiose -- touch, and pretty soon Tonight, Not Again becomes a fan-friendly breeze. For them, it'll be a happy-go-lucky yearbook scrawl from the lopsided-eyed guy himself. [Tonight, Not Again included a DVD portion with behind-the-scenes footage.]